Did the apartheid South Africa leaders seriously plan to make the bantustans be independent countries?

Question

Did the apartheid South Africa leaders seriously plan to make the Bantustans be independent countries (like Lesotho and Swaziland)? If yes, why did they assign such disjoint territories to each of them, so that it would not be a viable country anyway?

Answer 1

The Bantustans were an attempt to burden Black communities with administrative responsibility, without affording them substantial resources. Consider their tortuous borders and desolate locations. Per Encyclopedia Britannica, they were "a major administrative device for the exclusion of blacks from the South African political system".